Multiple usage cap

ABSTRACT

A multiple usage cap comprising a dome-like cap body, a plural of visors provided along a lower edge of the cap body in an adjacent manner and various different indications corresponding to the visors, respectively and provided on at least one of the cap body and the visors.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention pertains to a multiple usage cap and more particularly to a multiple usage cap adapted to make various different indications recognized from the outside by the user's wearing the cap while it is shifted in the peripheral direction of the head of the user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In general, prior art hats comprise a dome-like hat body having a collar or brim extending along the whole lower edge of the hat body while prior art caps comprise a dome-like cap body having a visor extending for 60 to 70 degrees on the partial lower edge of the cap body.

[0003] The caps among such conventional hats or caps are the ones which have only one front face and even though it might be used in an unusual manner of wearing it so that the visor is faced sideways or backward, many different indications are never able to be recognized and therefore multiple variations cannot be imparted to the conventional caps.

[0004] There has been proposed a two-pattern cap which comprises a movable part corresponding to one half of a cap body and having a front pattern corresponding to a pattern on a back half of the cap body when the movable part is covered on a front half of the cap body and a back pattern corresponding to a pattern on the front half of the cap body when the movable part is covered on the back half of the cap body whereby the two-pattern can be imparted to the cap (refer to JP6-42924U).

[0005] However, such two-pattern cap has only two patterns, which can be selectively used and can be never used for recognizing many ideological indications.

[0006] Moreover, there has been proposed a cap which has a movable visor separately provided from a stationary visor and rotating so that the movable visor is lapped over the stationary visor or positioned on the side opposite to the stationary visor whereby the movable visor is utilized as a sunshade for removing the sunlight from the backside (refer to JP6-6426U)

[0007] However, this cap is such a cap as serves both of the functions of the cap having only the front visor and the cap having the whole peripheral collar. Thus, it will be noted that this cap will look poor in the state where the movable visor is located at the rear position while the rear visor is only lapped over the front visor, which cannot use in a multiple manner with respect to the indications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a multiple usage cap for being able to carry out many-sided usage, which can make many ideological indications recognized with only one cap.

[0009] It is another object of the invention to provide a multiple usage cap for being able to be used as a tool of self-expression by showing such various sentiments as a user has.

[0010] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multiple usage cap comprising a dome-like cap body, a plural of foldable visors provided along a lower periphery of the cap body in an adjacent manner and indications corresponding to the visors, respectively on at least one of the cap body and the visors and different from each other.

[0011] The indications on the cap body corresponding to the respective visors may be a cap badge which may be arranged so that it can be concealed by the corresponding visor when it is folded up. The indications on each of the visors may be provided on an upper face and a lower face of the developed visor. The indications on the lower face of the visors can be wholly recognized when they are folded up, but can be partially or wholly concealed when they are developed. The indications on the upper face pf the visors are wholly concealed when they are folded up, but can be recognized when they are developed. The visors may preferably have portions of the indications including an idea relevant to each other, which are provided on an outer face of the visors when they are folded up (or a lower face of the visors when they are developed).

[0012] Furthermore, the cap body may desirably have flexible members connecting the parts of the cap body corresponding for the respective visors to each other so that the size of the cap body can be adjusted.

[0013] As the cap comprises the dome-like cap body, the plural of foldable peak-like visors provided along the lower periphery of the cap body and the various indications different from each other for every visor on the cap body and/or the visors as aforementioned, the wearer can use the cap in a multiple manner by wearing the cap with one of the visors arranged so as to be faced to the front.

[0014] Thus, the cap can be used in the multiple manner while the variation is applied to the cap and in addition thereto, it can be used while the self-sentiment or the like can be expressed through the cap by applying onto the cap body and/or the visors the indications such as the sentiment and the mental state different from each other according to the situation of the play of the team or the player supported by the spectator of the games such as the baseball, for example and wearing the cap with the predetermined indication among the various ones faced to the front and being able to be recognized by developing or extending the visor faced to the front.

[0015] The self-expression is a mental activity very important in order that the user can be understood by the society and shows off its existence and feeling to the society when the social life is performed. If the mental activity can be shown by a simple action, it can be useful for inducing a big communication in the social life. The multiple usage cap may be suitable for be used as the means to express such a self-sentiment.

[0016] It should be noted that the different indications on the cap body and/or the visors may not be the expression of the feeling, but may be just the expression of an idea. In this case, the cap can be worn while the particular idea can be selected with only one cap by changing the front positions of the cap body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The above and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, which are described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;

[0018]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cap constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention and shown in a folded state of the cap;

[0019]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cap of FIG. 1 shown in one example of use;

[0020]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cap body of the cap of FIGS. 1 and 2 and shown in an exploded manner;

[0021]FIG. 4A is a cross sectional view of a seam portion of two cloth pieces of the cap body for the cap of FIGS. 1 and 2;

[0022]FIG. 4B is a cross sectional view of a seam portion of two other cloth pieces of the cap body for the cap of FIGS. 1 and 2;

[0023]FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross sectional view of the cap body for the cap of FIGS. 1 and 2;

[0024]FIG. 6A is a front view of an indication corresponding to a smiling face on the cap body at a first position thereof;

[0025]FIG. 6B is a front view of an indication corresponding to a resentful face on the cap body at a second position thereof;

[0026]FIG. 6C is a front view of an indication corresponding to a crying face on the cap body at a third position thereof;

[0027]FIG. 7A is a front view of an indication on a first one of the visors corresponding to the indication of FIG. 6A;

[0028]FIG. 7B is a front view of an indication on a second one of the visors corresponding to the indication of FIG. 6B;

[0029] and FIG. 7C is a front view of an indication on a third one of the visors corresponding to the indication of FIG. 6C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0030] An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings hereinbelow. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cap 10 of the invention comprises a dome-like cap body 12 and a plural of foldable peak-like visors or brims 14 provided along a lower periphery of the cap body 12 in an adjacent manner.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 3, the cap body 12 may comprise a plural of approximately triangular cloth pieces 16. In the illustrated embodiment, the cap body 12 comprises six cloth pieces 16 seamed to each other. The alternately adjacent two cloth pieces 16A and 16A′, 16B and 16B′, 16C and 16C′ are shown to be seamed directly to each other as indicated by a reference numeral 18 a of FIG. 4A while the remaining alternately adjacent two cloth pieces 16A′ and 16B, 16B′ and 16C, 16C′ and 16A are seamed to each other through a resilient extendable member 20, which is extendable in the peripheral direction of the cap body 12 as shown in FIG. 4B (see FIG. 5). As shown in FIG. 4, these seamed portions may be concealed by seaming backing members 22 and 24. Although not shown, the cap body 12 may have a folded up portion provided inwardly along the lower edge.

[0032] In the illustrated embodiment, there are provided the three visors 14, each of which is provided over the peripheral portion of about 120 degree of the cap body and more particularly over the directly seamed two adjacent cloth pieces 16A and 16A′, 16B and 16B′ and 16C and 16C′, respectively. In the illustrated embodiment, each visor 14 may be in the form of semicircle, but in the form other than the semicircle. The visor corresponding to the cloth pieces 16A and 16A′ is designated at a numeral 14A, the visor corresponding to the cloth pieces 16B and 16B′ is designated at a numeral 14B and the visor corresponding to the cloth pieces 16C and 16CA′ is designated at a numeral 14C.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 1, these visors 14A, 14B and 14C can be freely bent about the attached root portion of the visors 14 between the state where it is folded up so that it is overlapped over the outer face of the cap body 12 and the state where it is developed or extended to the front as shown in FIG. 2 from the state where it is overlapped.

[0034] The cap of the invention further comprises indications 30 and 40 different from each other corresponding to the visors 14A, 14B and 14C, respectively on the cap body 12 and/or the visors 14.

[0035] In the illustrated embodiment, all the indications 30A, 30B and 30C on the positions of the cap body corresponding to the visors 14A, 14B and 14C, respectively may be cap badges (indication marks) expressing an intention such as a feeling, which are so arranged that the cap badges are concealed by the corresponding visors 14A, 14B and, 14C when the corresponding visors are folded up.

[0036] In the illustrated embodiment, the indications 40A, 40B and 40C on the respective visors 14A, 14B and 14C don't express the intention such as the feeling, but comprise cap badges (indication badges) to express the specific organization, which are provided on the front faces of the visors 14 when they are folded up (or the lower face of the visors 14 when they are developed) and the indication portions on the sides where the visors are attached are concealed when they are developed, but only the leading ends of the visors 14 may be raised up to the state where they are so bent that the indication portions on the leading ends can be seen.

[0037] Although not shown, the indications 40A, 40B and 40C on the visors 14A, 14B and 14C may not be provided on the front face when they are folded up, or may be provided on the back face (the upper face when they are developed) as well as on the front face when they are folded up. In this case, the visors 14 are developed so as to be inclined from the base root of the visors downwardly toward the leading edges thereof whereby the indications 40A, 40B and 40C on the upper face of the visors can be observed from the front in the state where the visors are developed.

[0038] Now, a concrete embodiment of the indications 30 and 40 of the cap of the invention and an operation thereof will be described just below. However, it should be easily understood that the embodiment and the operation of the indications are only one example of them and that other various embodiments and operations may be considered.

[0039] Explaining the operation of the cap 10 about the case where this cap 10 is used for supporting the YOMIURI GIANTS (one of the professional baseball teams in Japan) when the game of the YOMIURI GIANTS team versus another professional baseball team is observed, for instance. The cap badges that are the indications 30A, 30B and 30C on the cap body 12 are of JABITTO (a parody of “Rabbit”), all of which are the mascot dolls of the YOMIURI GIANTS team as shown in FIGS. 6A through 6C. The indication 30A among these indications is shown to be of a smiling expression, the indication 30B is shown to be of a resentment expression and the indication 30C is shown to be of a crying expression.

[0040] On the other hand, the badges as the indications on the visors 14A, 14B and 14C may be marks indicating the names of the team (or the association) called “YOMIURI GIANTS” as shown in FIGS. 7A through 7C. The indication 40A may comprise the upper side alphabetic characters “TOKYO” and the lower side overlapped characters of “G” and “Y”, which are observed when the visor 14A is folded up, the indication 40B may comprise the upper side alphabetic characters “GIANTS” and the lower side overlapped characters of “G” and “Y” and the indication 40C may comprise the upper side alphabetic characters “YOMIURI” and the lower side overlapped characters of “G” and “Y”.

[0041] Describing the method of using the cap 10, the wearer that is the fan of the YOMIURI GIANTS team watches the game while wearing this cap 10 and the wearer can express its feelings by developing either of the visors 14A through 14C in accordance with the situation of the progress of the game. For instance, when the game is developed in favor of the YOMIURI GIANTS team, the visor 14A is extended so that the “smiling indication” is exposed on the cap boy 12. This is coincident with the smiling face of the wearer itself and its feeling can be expressed not only by its face but also by the cap.

[0042] Similarly, when the game is developed against the YOMIURI GIANTS team, the visor 14C is extended so that the “resentment indication” is exposed on the cap body 12 and when the game is developed in the tension state, the visor 14B is extended so that the “crying indication” is exposed on the cap body 12. These indications can be coincident with the resentment face and the crying face of the wearer itself and its feelings can be expressed by both of the face and the cap.

[0043] The cap badge of the crying indication may be replaced by the JABITTO mark having a usual expression indication and therefore the cap can be normally used by opening the usual expression indication in the place having no relation to the game. Otherwise, the wearer can wear the cap in the state where it has all the visors indicating the smiling, resentment and crying expressions not extended as if there is no visor on the cap body whereby no sentiment is expressed.

[0044] As only the leading end of each of the visors in its folding-up state is bent upwardly as shown in FIG. 2, the alphabetic letters “TOKYO”, “GIANTS” and “YOMIURI” which are the indications on the leading end side of the visors 14A, 14B and 14C, respectively, are recognized, but this is not required and the non-indication on the upper faces of the visors 14 may appear.

[0045] As already described, the cap badge indicating the association may be provided only on the upper side or on the upper and lower sides of the visors when they are developed. This is preferable because the cap badges of the association can be recognized even though the visors are developed.

[0046] It should be understood that the indications 30 on the cap body 12 and the indications 40 on the visors 14 are not limited to the matters relevant to the game of the baseball as aforementioned and that the indications 30 on the cap body 12 may be of the “gold metal”, the “silver metal” and the “cupper metal” relevant to the Olympic Games, for example while the indications 40 on the visors 14 may be of the Mark of the Five-Rings and the national flags.

[0047] Otherwise, the indications 30 on the cap body 12 may be of “one big heart mark”, “one cracked heart mark” and “many small heart marks”, respectively while the indication 40 on the visors 14 may be formed of letters “under love”, “under unrequited love” and “under love partner collection” indicating the respective implications (ideas) of the indications 30, respectively.

[0048] Although, in the illustrated embodiment, the indications include those of intention expressing the feelings, the indications 30 exposed by extending the visors 14 may be of cap badges in the form of having no relation to the indication of intention and in this case, the indications 40 on the visors 14 may be omitted. The cap badges (the mark of indication) may be either of the figures, the symbols, the characters, the numbers or their combination or combinations.

[0049] Although, in the illustrated embodiment, the cap is used while only one of the visors is extended or all the visors are folded up, it may be used while all the visors are extended.

[0050] In accordance with the invention, as the cap comprises the dome-like cap body, the plural of foldable peak-like visors provided along the lower periphery of the cap body and the various indications different from each other for the respective visors on the cap body and/or the visors, the wearer can use the cap in a multiple manner by wearing the cap with one of the visors arranged so as to be faced to the front and extended or folded up.

[0051] As the different indications may be of intentions such as different sentiments, the wearer can wear the cap while the portion of the cap body having the indication corresponding to the sentiment or the mental state of the wearer is faced to the front and is extended so as to recognize the indication whereby the sentiment and the mental state of the wearer can be expressed through the cap together with the look of the wearer's face. Thus, it will be noted that the cap may be conveniently utilized as a tool of the multiple self-expression.

[0052] The different indications may be of the different ideas and therefore the cap can be worn while various ideas are indicated by changing the front position of the cap body so that the specific idea is selected.

[0053] Although some preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that they are by way of examples, and that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is defined only to the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A multiple usage cap comprising a dome-like cap body, a plural of foldable visors provided along a lower periphery of said cap body and indications corresponding to said visors, respectively on at least one of said cap body and said visors and different from each other.
 2. A multiple usage cap as set forth in claim 1 and wherein said indications on said cap body corresponding to said visors, respectively are arranged so that said indications are concealed by the corresponding visors, respectively when they are folded up.
 3. A multiple usage cap as set forth in claim 1 and wherein said indications on said visors are provided on an upper face or a lower face of said visors in the state of their development and said indications on the lower face of said visors can be wholly recognized when they are folded up, but can be partially or wholly concealed when they are developed while said indications on the upper face of said visors are wholly concealed when they are folded up, but can be recognized when they are developed.
 4. A multiple usage cap as set forth in claim 1 and wherein said indications on said cap body corresponding to said visors, respectively are arranged so that said indications are concealed by the corresponding visors, respectively when they are folded up, said indications on said visors are provided on an upper face or a lower face of said visors in the state of their development and said indications on the lower face of said visors can be wholly recognized when they are folded up, but can be partially or wholly concealed when they are developed while said indications on the upper face of said visors are wholly concealed when they are folded up, but can be recognized when they are developed.
 5. A multiple usage cap as set forth in claim 1 and wherein said visors have portions of said indications including an idea relevant to each other, which are provided on an outer face of said visors when they are folded up (or a lower face of the visors when they are developed).
 6. A multiple usage cap as set forth in claim 1 and wherein said cap body have flexible members connecting parts of said cap body corresponding for every visor to each other. 